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Sen.
John Edwards is Commencement speaker at UNCP
 U.S.
Senator and presidential hopeful John Edwards is the May 2003 Commencement
speaker for The University of North Carolina at Pembroke, according
to an announcement by Chancellor Allen C. Meadors.
Commencement is
Saturday, 10 a.m., May 10, in the Main Gym of Jones Athletic Complex.
"We could not
be more pleased to have a presidential hopeful and outstanding North
Carolinian like Senator John Edwards come to our campus," Chancellor
Allen C. Meadors said. "This will be a very special day for the
university and the Spring 2003 graduates."
Offering greetings
for the University of North Carolina will be President Molly Corbett
Broad.
Sen. Edwards, who
announced his candidacy on January 2, is an early frontrunner for the
presidential nomination.
Described by the
Raleigh News and Observer as "smart, disciplined (and) hard working"
with "a down-home manner," Edwards grew up in nearby Robbins,
N.C.
Sen. Edwards has
impressed colleagues in Washington and quickly captured the imagination
of voters nationwide, as a much-talked about vice presidential choice
in the last presidential contest. His election to the U.S. Senate in
1998 was his first political office.
A champion of homeland
security, investment in public schools, patient protection and campaign
finance reform, Sen. Edwards has taken tough positions on corporate
corruption and international terrorism.
As part of his commitment
to North Carolina, Sen. Edwards has visited all 100 counties, and every
week that the Senate is in session, he hosts "Tar Heel Thursday,"
a town-hall style meeting that is open to all visiting North Carolinians.
Senator Edwards
attended public schools and worked his way through North Carolina State
University and the University of North Carolina Law School, where he
graduated with honors. His father was a textile worker, and Edwards
was the first person in his family to graduate from college.
As an attorney practicing
in Raleigh, Sen. Edwards made a name for himself as one of the outstanding
lawyers in North Carolina.
He met his wife,
Elizabeth, in Chapel Hill when they were both in law school. The couple
had four children: Wade, who is deceased; Catherine, a student at Princeton
University; four-year-old Emma Claire and two-year old Jack.
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